Having addressed our need for mercy and our
resistance to it, we need to turn our attention to what seeking and receiving
mercy looks like and, once it is received, how it affects our lives in a
hurting world which will have none of it.
Concerning seeking and receiving mercy, there is
no real improvement on the efforts of the great narrative theologian, John
Bunyan. In his allegory, “The Pilgrim’s Progress,” he captures the essence of
repentance with memorable insight.
First, Bunyan addresses the onset of genuine
conviction of sin.
We all experience guilt. Our race is an undulating mass of self-accusation and self-justification. Desperate religions and philosophies offer convoluted explanations
and variations of a cosmetic mercy of self-righteous relief; but there is no overarching desire for the mercy revealed by the God against whom we have sinned.
It is that desire which bears down on the shoulders of Bunyan’s
pilgrim. He bears a burden directly related to a Book in his hand which warns
of the upcoming destruction of his city and himself.
The nature of mercy desired is known by the source of guilt felt. A true longing for mercy has nothing to do with
some vague angst. It has to do with revealed truth from the God in whom we live
and move and have our being; and its only solution is to be found in the same Book which reveals the need.
If we think our problem has its roots in
violating some divine spark within, and its solution is to be found in the myopic philosophies of men and women, then let the scavenger hunt begin. But, if we have been moved by
the Book which teaches our hearts to fear and then relieves that fear with the
gift of mercy saturated with grace, then let us be done with nonsense and seek
it there.
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